Der Feuervogel aufersteht.

So busy.

I have a finished first draft of the UST short story, and I'll be looking for betas after the first revisions are done, ie Friday (aka before I go to VP).

Today:
- flu shot (10:15)
- writing group (11-1)
- Target
- post office
- call hotel to warn about package on its way
- watch language acquisition lecture
- read Lies of Locke Lamora

Wednesday
- call Frau H-S about practicum (I have a $10 prepaid card that says its minutes don't expire; let's find out)
- work out
- write post for The Hard Tackle
- work on novel
- read more language acquisition & do assignments
- read Lies
- pub quiz

Thursday
- revise Hard Tackle post
- work out
- work on short story revisions
- work on language course
- read Lies
- write OTE post for Friday

Friday
- take Ben to train station (9:42)
- laundry
- start packing
- get betas for short story
- language course
- read Lies


Saturday
- groceries?
- finish packing (as much as I can)
- queue OTE posts for next week
- paint nails

Sunday
- fly to Boston (9:15; have ride to RDU from DFS)

Things I have done today:
- taken my car to get its a/c serviced ahead of driving to Atlanta next week
- rewritten a blog post for tomorrow
- put gas in my car
- washed my cosplay wig so I can restyle it
- started a packing list for DragonCon
- read a lot of Pacific Rim fanfic

Things I have not done today:
- written in the novel

1. Do some con stuff.
2. Clean the bathroom. (When it gets warm enough to open the window)
3. Study for the test in my PMP class.
4. Email K about a job for a friend.
5. Make more progress on the 2k words of nonfiction I checked out of the library (http://twitter.yfrog.com/mnceqylj) I read some Schnitzler in a literature course I took in Marburg.
6. Email S about magazine stuff.
7. Start making the documentation for magazine stuff.

It's easier when I write it down like that.

1. Internet stuff
2. Wash shrug I finally finished (the one I started in 2008 and has been waiting for me to sew up its sleeves for 4 years)
3. Finish cutting pattern for Empire dress
4. Trace & cut pieces
5. lunch
6. Internet stuff
7. Start first round of revisions on novel 2
8. Crochet satchel (only 6 rows + border + trim on the back, then putting it together)

Tonight:

- Make custard for ice cream so it can chill overnight
- Clean off the kitchen table

Tomorrow:

- Run custard through ice cream freezer, put into actual freezer (morningish)
- Chop apples & onion, dump with squash into crockpot (by 2 pm)
- Bake cake (~1 hr)
- Vacuum living room and stairs (~1 hr)
- Wash slip covers on couch & futon (which was nice and clean until a cat hairballed on it, sigh) (~1 hr; start before vacuuming)
- Make cornbread
- Last-minute tidying & horizontal surface usable-making

I bought another broom today, and it had a cleaning tip on the wrapper: sweep your carpet before vacuuming to get more dirt up. I've never heard that, but I'll give it a shot. We have a lot of cat-related dirt in the carpet. It may also help with the long hair tangling around the vacuum brush problem.

There are going to be 15+ people in my house. I don't think I have enough chairs...

(Also, I'm starting to feel left out again, because people never invite me to things, and lately when I invite people over, they're "doing something else." YAY FUN ANXIETY.)

- call grandparents about what we're doing for dinner tomorrow
- email mom about more planning stuff
- pack [clothes picked out, toiletries not ready yet; don't forget phone charger]
- email vet re Isis' blood sugar
- bake sweet potatoes & get 2 cups mashed to take up [start at 4:30 so only have to heat oven once]
- make gingersnap crumb topping
- make next/final attempt at alternate history spy story
- writers group @ 7
- get directions to grandparents' house

I think that's everything I need to do today... I've got all the refrigerated stuff I need to take up sorted in the fridge, and I'll put it in a cooler in the morning.

I'm not really looking forward to a 6-hour drive by myself tomorrow (and another on Friday), but my grandparents aren't getting any younger.

- write a piece for redrobbery on what to expect from Hertha next matchday (quick summary: parking the bus and a complete inability to defend set pieces). Thankfully I can crib from the season preview I wrote for the Bundesliga Fanatic.

- clean off my desk upstairs so I can start using it, since it's getting cooler outside and downstairs is cold

- watch TUR:GER

- clean off the coffee table

- wash the slip cover on the second couch and rearrange the living room to comfortably seat 6

- decide what I want for dinner tonight

- download & watch the BSC:KÖL match (first half)

- take a nap to try and recover from low sleep all weekend

In order to reach the goals I've made (see yesterday's post), I'm going to get all organized and shit.

Step 1: Acquire planner. I had a planner once, back when I was in pharmacy school, but I have no idea where it ended up. I searched the most obvious places, but I couldn't find it. I may have gotten rid of it. So I'll run down to the last independent office supply store in the area (possibly even the state) and browse his wares. I remember when Office Supplies & More lived in downtown Chapel Hill, but I'm sure the rent at Timberlyne is less ridiculous.

Step 2: DIY Planner (.com). I assume a planner I'd buy would include the inserts, but I like some of the optional ones at this website. They have a creativity pack, which has things like story ideas and submission trackers, and I like some of the pages included in the core pack. I'd like to print them double-sided to a) save paper and b) make it easier to turn pages without double-sided tape.

You're probably asking why I need a planner; if I have dates and lists and deadlines, I have a framework. I've tried digital organizing, and it doesn't work. Not for me. I don't check my GCal every day. Though I'm not sure I'd check a planner every day either; but if I have physical things on my desk (another thing what needs decluttering again) and lists I can manually tickybox, it can help. I know GCal has a to-do list function; see above re not looking at it. And if I do, it's on my phone, which doesn't support Tasks.

Step 3: Use planner. Set deadlines for revisions, outlines, learning taiji things, etc.

---

I've come up with one even remotely feasible idea for moving to Berlin eventually, and I'm going to have to be really fucking organized to do it: Become a taiji instructor. That's far more portable than pharmacy, if far less lucrative.

I've tried looking into what I'd have to do to become an Apothekerin, and it seems that I'd have to do something like 1500 hours (1 year) of internship/apprenticeship (Ausbildung) and sit the license exams. I ... have zero desire to go through that shit again. And it strikes me that getting a work visa as a pharmacist, when surely there are pharmacy grads in Germany, would be rather difficult.

According to my school's website, I just have to have been studying for five years and have the sponsorship (approval?) of one of the main teachers. Searching my old entries indicates that I started at MTT by March 26, 2007. So I've been there four years now. Or soon. Cool.

For yellow sash, I need to find the first taiji classic attributed to ZSF. It might be in Master Jou's book, which is still on my shelf, partly read. I also have to learn a whole bunch of theory stuff. As far as the actual taiji part is concerned, it'll be posture, whole body movement, and energy, as well as flow and smoothness (ie, no pausing at the end of each posture.)

---

So in my planner, along with the writing goals (and gardening and house cleaning), I'll be making tai chi notes. One of the DIY Planner kits included an exercise tracker, and I can easily repurpose that to keep myself honest for taiji practice.

Lots of people are doing year or decade in review things; I might do that later. We'll see. Perhaps some forced introspection will be good for me.

Goals:

1. Practice taiji daily. Practice chansijin at least 3x/wk and Four Flowers at least 3x/wk. Practice at least one form per day, and Chen at least twice a week.
2. Exercise at least 3x/wk. I'm not getting any younger, and my thighs aren't getting any smaller. (Quite the opposite, in fact... I've already started wearing the seams out on a pair of stretchy jeans I bought in September. That I wear twice a week. Dammit.)
3. Get a rough draft of Iron and Rust finished by the end of February, then go over it once.
4. Have the first 6k words polished in order to apply to VP.
5. Outline prequel(s) to Iron & Rust.
6. Get my author site set up. (Pay someone to make the design pretty. Too bad Tammy's overextended already; she makes good design...)

Other plans:

1. Read Spiegel.de every day.
2. Write a paragraph in German every day.
3. Review German grammar.
4. Practice German vocabulary.
5. While I'm in Berlin and Vienna/Budapest (6 wks total), have a revised first draft to betas.
6. If my job still sucks by the time I leave for Europe, send out my resume to other retail chains. Hopefully they can give me part time (10-20 hrs/wk) or every third weekend (Fri-Sun.)

Travel & con plans:

January: none
February: Snowshoe?
March: none
April: none Carolinas Writers Conference 4/16
May: Goethe Institut Berlin (4 wks)
June: Vienna, Bratislava & Budapest (for our 10th anniversary) (2 wks)
July: none USKSF tournament? ReaderCon
August: NASFiC?
September: Dragon*Con
October: none
November: Thanksgiving with the in-laws
December: pre-Christmas with my mom's family (probably 12/17-19)

I'll post-date this later, so it sticks at the top.

Today
10 am: pick up quiche at WSM (also crackers & vitamins)
12:20: neuro appointment

afterward:
- make parmesan crisps (oven @300)
- roast green beans (oven @350)
- bake & mash sweet potatoes (oven @400)
- thaw puff pastry, roll out & shape, refreeze
- make topping for sweet potato pudding
- soften ice cream & stir in bourbon & molasses

Tomorrow
9 am: prep pear tart (cook pears, cook filling)
10:30: tart in oven (400), prep sweet potato pudding
11:30: pudding in oven (350)
unknown time: put quiche in oven with pudding
12:30: pack everything up and go to the hotel

What to take
- cranberry sauce
- green beans
- parmesan crisps
- chevre
- halved dried figs
- pudding
- quiche
- tart
- ice cream
- wine? corkscrew?
- beer?
- serving utensils?
- plates? (No idea what sort of/how many dishes this hotel kitchenette has)

You bet Ben's helping me with this mess. They're his famdambly.

do
-Call Visa & let them know I'm going to Europe so they don't cancel my card when there are charges in Europe
-Figure out what the BofA and SECU international ATM fees are & decide which card to take; transfer money if necessary
-Send updated contact info once I get my address
-LJ voice posting?
-Decide whether I want to take a 13-hour overnight train from Berlin to Vienna or a 2-hour plane trip. Train is less expensive, longer; flying is a pain in the ass.
-Get a haircut
-See people before I leave
-Make a packing list

buy
Crabtree (Lush, Ann Taylor, H&M, Body Shop)
-King of the Mods, 4-oz body wash
-clothes? jeans, tops, skirt?
-face wash for Ben, travel size body wash if on sale

Target
-underwear, socks
-cat litter
-bathrobe for Ben?
-Kashi bars (or Chez Teeter)

-Anything on packing list I don't actually have on hand.

Why are Ann Taylor pants so expensive? Why are they the only store I can reliably find pants that actually fit all my measurements? :P

TOMORROW:

- Call Dr B to get new Synthroid rx; ask if she wants bloodwork this time. -- Get 90-day supply!
- Call BCBS to see what coverage is like in Europe/travel (Hungary requires proof of insurance?)
- Call TAC to see about u/s for Isis; cancel appt at vet school if needed
- Email GI about housing (when I find out where I'm living) & how much die Kaution will be & when I get it back
- Mail registration form for CME
- Email pension in Vienna to get confirmation of reservation (to print out)

TUESDAY:

- Women's Health CE (8:20-3:45; Grandover Resort). Leave at 7:30!
- Stop home before COUP? Might want to change...

WEDNESDAY:

- NO TAI CHI. Don't go to class!

THURSDAY:

- TAI CHI. Be in Pittsboro at 19:30.

I feel like I'm forgetting something. *checks GCal* No, that's it... I might could be persuaded to go to trivia Wednesday, though I won't be drinking. Since I'd have to drive home and all.

FRIDAY I just have my usual Chen practice at 7:30, then a day of editing.

SATURDAY I might be helping S move, unless that ends up being SUNDAY.

Why am I so busy? Right, because I'm trying to get a whole lot of shit done before I leave the country for SIX WEEKS.

Also, we have a tornado watch in effect until 1 am. Here's hoping nothing happens.

I got through my entire to-do list, except registering for the CE. I have another week or so for that. And it's like $170 for a day-long CE, which includes continental breakfast (coffee, tea, and pastries) and a rather nice lunch. It's at this fancy-pants resort/spa in Greensboro, which is part of the reason it costs several times as much as the day-long CE with continental breakfast and box lunches at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill. (Which I won't be able to make this year, unfortunately, because I'll be in BERLIN instead. Hahaha. It's the first day of my language class, even.)

I learned that David Drake got a JD at Dook, and he was the town attorney for Chapel Hill. Now I feel obligated to read his books. I bet they have some at the library, and there are some free on Baen's Webscriptions. (Baen has offices down here. Did you know that?) But he has written space opera with mercenaries, and I feel doubly obligated to read more in the subgenre.

After dinner, Ben's gonna play the last bit of DLC in Assassin's Creed II, and I'm gonna crochet. I have a shawl I need to finish. I'm on row 12 or so of a projected 80+. -_- (At least it's worked entirely in half-double, so it's quick.)

Quick beer review: Picked up a 6-pack of Dead-Eye Jack (Lone Rider Brewing). It's a seasonal (Outlawed Release) porter. As I've mentioned before, porters are hit or miss for me. This one is a hit, I think. It's got a decent balance between malt and hops, and a hint of chocolate. Recommended! (I prefer stouts over porters, as far as dark beers go. Except the Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, which is amazing.)

I probably mentioned how much I liked Shotgun Betty, which is Lone Rider's hefeweizen. I'm going to mention it again, because it's so damn good, and I haven't had any since my halloween party, because it's only available in growlers still, and I can't drink 4 pints by myself. :P

We should make a field trip to Big Boss and Lone Rider, but possibly not the same day. I wonder if Triangle Brewing in Durham offers tours/samples/etc... (Ooh, I can send a SASE to Lone Rider and get labels and coasters...)

Which reminds me of another quick beer review: Triangle Brewing's Belgian golden: Nice, drinkable. Not quite as good as Duvel, but probably cheaper.

Holy shit, clicking around TBC's website shows a Black Friday cask festival. Too bad it's impossible to get Ben's family here for Thanksgiving. :P (Not that they'd want to do it, of course. Except his bro.)

OK, dinner's ready. Time to eat!

1. Get my evaluation for Chen style done. Status: waiting reply from Dr Jay with when works for him. Deadline: 1/26. DONE 1/25

2. Get serious about cardiovascular fitness. I ain't getting any younger. If I want to be active in my old age, I need to get fit now. That means getting on my walking in place machine at least 3 times a week. Status: uh. Working on that.

3. Write 4 short stories and submit them for publication, until at least one is bought. Status: 1 story submitted and rejected; 2nd story submitted. Revising story #1.

4. Get Nothing Beside Remains to queryable form. Status: revisions GO.

5. Stop feeling like a poseur when I put "sf/f writer" in my bio. Status: not there yet.

I'm gonna post-date this in a couple days so I can keep track/accountable with a post at the top of my journal.